Tag to Unending
by Gen Varel
Summary: Missing scenes of the years lived on The Odyssey from Sam's perspective.
1. Chapter 1

By Gen Varel

Season: Ten

Warnings: Adult situations

Disclaimer: Stargate SG-1 and its characters are not my property. I have written this story for the enjoyment of Stargate SG-1 fans all over the world. No copyright infringement is intended and no monetary gain is expected.

Chapter One

The first time Sam feels the merciless blade of real doubt slice through her insides is at the three-month mark, during dinner time. General Landry's seemingly innocuous toast to the Asgard legacy, a treasure trove strangely unmentioned during ninety days of futilely attempting to escape their virtual prison, comes as a surprise.

Everyone but Cameron lifts their drinks briefly, painfully smiling at each other with varying degrees of poor enthusiasm and ignoring the young colonel's glum detachment.

The toast makes Sam realize that the general is starting to lose hope despite his previously determined faith in her intellect. He is telling her, in his own veiled way, to give herself a break and start spending some of her work time on something other than her current project. His eyes tell her he is worried about her.

She has spent the past months doing nothing but trying to solve their problem, sleeping little, foregoing exercise, and hardly interacting with the others, but her attempts at finding a way to escape both the Asgard technology keeping them from leaving and the Ori killing blow that would end their lives in a blink, have been, so far, useless. They remain firmly stuck in space and time with no path of escape in sight.

Cameron continues to sullenly eat his dinner, his usually enthusiastic appetite replaced by a morose, automatic action of hand to mouth, fork disappearing between lips, inadequate chewing, and determined swallowing. His eyes remain fixed on his quickly emptying plate, his ears closed to Vala's still incessant chatter, a chatter Sam suspects is meant to distract Daniel from following in Cam's footsteps.

Her oldest and best friend has moments of panic accentuated by sudden flares of bizarre ideas he throws at her in his usually rapid, excited manner when she least expects him to. When she explains why his ideas won't work, he smiles at her with a nod, telling her that it was worth bringing it up, and he leaves her alone to work. Vala, his shadow, follows him after giving Sam a wink of encouragement, daring him to a game of Parcheesi or a wrestle in the improvised gym.

Cameron suddenly mumbles something and excuses himself from the table as soon as his plate is empty. Five pairs of eyes follow his escape through the doors; then return to the plates set before them.

"You must be dying to dig into the database to see what gems the Asgard left for us in things aside from armament, weapons, and propulsion," General Landry says a few seconds later.

Sam obligingly smiles, keeping up the pretense for everyone else's benefit. "I've skimmed through some of it, but you're right, there's a lot I haven't had a chance to investigate. There's a wealth of information there that will take years to sort through."

"Well," Daniel unexpectedly interrupts, "It looks like you'll have all the time you need."

He has only briefly looked at Sam to say that which, not for the first time, makes her feel guilty for her failure so far. She exchanges a pained look with the general, then with an annoyed Vala. The alien woman bumps Daniel's shoulder with hers to say, "What kind of talk is that? Sam will get us back home eventually. Don't you ever doubt it!"

"If it was at all possible to do so, Sam would have found a way out already," he retorts, biting his words angrily.

No one says anything for a few moments, but then Teal'c does, piercing Daniel with flinty black eyes.

"I do not doubt Colonel Carter's abilities to eventually succeed." He then looks at her. "You have always gotten us home before. You will not fail to do so again, however long that might take."

"Thank you, Teal'c," she softly replies, smiling at her old friend gratefully, but she feels as if her face is cracking.

She lets her growing locks fall forward in a useless effort to hide her distress. The growing ache of doubt mercilessly reasserts itself inside her stomach, making her push her plate away even though she has not finished her meal, and she finally excuses herself from the table politely, claiming to be tired.

Later that night, the cool pillow under her cheek meets the warm tears spilling from her closed eyelids, forming a wet spot on the satin sheets she prefers − the kind both she and Jack enjoy so much − and her thoughts return for the millionth time to him.

Her months of futile struggle have been nothing but a moment to her beloved general. He has not even started to miss her yet, but she has been wallowing in a miserable pond of anguish and craving for what seems like ages, ever since she realized just how difficult their current conundrum really is.

She despairs of ever seeing him again, of ever again feeling his calloused hands stroking her bare skin, of ever hearing his hoarsely whispered words in intimate moments when only the two of them exist in their private universe.

At first, she tried to focus on the fact that their world would eventually be as free of the Ori as they were of the Goa'uld and the Replicators thanks to the wonders they have inherited from the Asgard. It managed to cheer her up and encouraged her to work on their predicament without a allowing a single doubt that she would eventually come up with a solution.

Now her thoughts keep drifting to the empty side of her bed, to the empty side of Jack's bed, and the fact that they may remain empty until she dies of old age. He'll never know what kept her from returning to him, and she never wants to find out whether he will eventually find someone to fill that empty space between his satin sheets.

Cameron's running footfalls echo hollowly through her cabin door. He is jogging through the ship again. He does that every time he can't sleep. He does that every single morning. He does that sometimes during the day, at odd hours. She knows it is the one thing he does to keep him from losing his sanity.

On the following day, number ninety-one, Sam utilizes the Asgard replicating technology to make a cello. On that day, she reaches for something that will keep her own sanity intact.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

A crisis meets the six-month mark on board _The Odyssey_. Sam seems to be the only one still holding on to hope. She knows it is because she cannot accept that she will never see Jack again, so she continues to spend hours of her day on her escape project.

Teal'c, unsurprisingly, is calmly accepting of their fate and has clearly made it his mission to take care of her. He wakes her up every morning and escorts her to breakfast; he sits silently in her lab when she works; he makes her work out for an hour every day; and he sits beside her at meal times. He doesn't mention their dilemma. He only listens when she needs him to. They don't talk about Jack, and she fills her few lonely moments with learning the cello, stroking the instrument with the passion she would rather share with her absent lover.

General Landry spends most of his time tending to his plants, living in the tiny bit of Earth he's been able to recreate, and he doesn't ask for progress reports any longer. She knows he only wants to hear about her project if she has something new to report, and she does so very occasionally, during their chess matches. He, however, delights on the information she shares from the Asgard database on all sorts of topics, and he lords over their table acting as if they were all his brood, unwaveringly cheerful and coaxing reluctant responses from an increasingly on-the-edge Colonel Mitchell. It's clear that his personal mission is to keep them all from succumbing to despair.

On a happier note, the six-month crisis finds Daniel and Vala finally coming together. Sam is not aware of the details, but she is glad for her friends. Daniel's reluctant romance with the determined alien woman plucks him from the claws of depression and sets him in a new, bittersweet reality he can live with. He even starts to smile again.

Opposed to Daniel, Vala seems to have grown calmer and more serious with the new relationship. Her life's mission is clearly to be there for her lover in any way, shape or form he needs her to be. She doesn't argue with him about the unlikelihood of their ever returning home when he brings it up. She only listens and then kisses his despondency away, pulling him into the privacy of their now shared quarters when he starts to descend into hopelessness.

The most heartbreaking crisis is Cameron's. He is always the first one to leave the dinner table, but this night, instead of going for a jog, he confines himself to his cabin. An hour later, all hell breaks loose inside, forcing General Landry to order Sam to override the lock to his room.

They pour inside to find a disaster area, bed upturned, items broken and scattered all over the floor, and an exhausted colonel curled up in a ball and tucked into a corner, his forehead dejectedly resting on his knees.

General Landry takes over. He orders them to leave so that he can talk to Cam, and they all reluctantly do so.

Sam has no idea what he told the colonel, but the next morning Cameron shows up at breakfast as usual, he resumes his jogging, and he starts to converse more. To her concern, however, she notices that his eyes follow her everywhere. His jogging sometimes pauses outside her door, and he starts to visit her in her lab, just as Jack used to.

Cam watches her work, usually distracting her with banal chat, but sometimes stealing resentful looks at Teal'c, who staunchly remains in place guarding her and her well-being.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

The one-year anniversary of their virtual imprisonment finds Cameron finally knocking on her cabin door in the late evening. She is not too surprised. He had been unusually cheerful during dinner earlier, as if he had made a life-changing decision. She has seen this coming for a while.

Sam opens her door reluctantly, unable to turn him away. He is her friend, and their situation needs to be addressed. He needs to understand.

He is holding a bottle of her favorite wine and two glasses in his hands. "Hey," he smiles. "Do you have a minute?"

"Cam," she starts to decline, but he doesn't let her finish.

"Just for a toast. General Landry was right, don't you think?" he asks.

She remembers the general's words during dinner. He had reminded them all that they should be grateful for each other; that because the seemingly pointless years they might still live on the ship, secluded from the rest of the universe, they needed each other to survive their current adventure. He then had launched into a session of mission stories, reminiscing crazy previous adventures that had made them all chuckle despite themselves.

"Of course," she admits, letting Cameron in. She wants to keep this Colonel Mitchell around. She can't again bear to see the Colonel Mitchell that ended up destroying his sleeping quarters.

Her teammate and friend heads toward the small round table in her cabin, uncorking the wine and pouring it with a small smile. "You looked sad over dinner."

"I was," she admits. There is no point in denying it. Her failure weighs on her.

"It's not your fault, Sam. I'm sorry that I have never said that before."

"I'm not giving up…" 

"I don't care," he cuts her off, handing over a full glass. "Keep trying if you want. I do still have faith in you, but you have to accept the possibility…"

"No," she interrupts this time.

"You need to give yourself a break."

"I do. I do other things beside work on the problem."

"That's not what I meant." He stares meaningfully into her blue eyes. He then lifts his glass for a toast. "To another kind of life, where we might still find a way to be happy."

To Sam, that is nothing but quitter talk, so she sets her glass down as she shakes her head at him. "I'm sorry."

"Regardless of when we return to Earth, we have to continue living our lives," he argues pleadingly. "Reality is that we don't know how long it's going to take for you to find a solution."

"I know," she replies in an almost whisper. She hates to admit the truth, and she doesn't want to hurt him, so she chooses to reach for the wine and drink. She drains half the glass.

A few silent moments follow as they both stare into their goblets, awkwardly standing by the little round table.

Cameron slowly puts his down; then he takes a tentative step toward her.

She doesn't back away, but she meets his pleading look with a wary one, not knowing how to diffuse the moment without hurting him, without destroying their friendship and causing a scene that would surely bring Teal'c to her door.

"I need you, Sam," he openly admits, but she shakes her head at him sadly.

"Because I'm the only available woman on this ship?" she brutally retorts with the truth.

"No," he shakes his head at her. "I need you because I'm tired of denying the attraction I've always felt for you, because living in such close quarters has made it impossible not to fall for you completely, and because I'm done accepting General O'Neill as an excuse to stay away from you. I can't keep doing that given our current circumstances. I'm here. He's not."

"He's much more than an excuse, Cam," she replies almost angrily, but she can't quite summon the anger she should. She's not sure he's quite in his right mind if he thinks that she can just forget about Jack and jump into bed with him. She knows that, of all of them, he's the most likely to crack and lose it.

"He's light years away, not even aware that you're beyond his reach. Let's face the fact that we might grow old in this ship while he sips his morning coffee in his office. You might be an old woman before you see him again."

"Age has never mattered to us," she said, setting her glass aside and allowing burbling anger freely rise inside her this time.

"It has never mattered to you, obviously. Are you sure it won't matter to him? We, men, are shallow beings," he says, making her glare at him.

"Stop," she warns.

"Sam," he says with a patient tone. "I didn't know how to say this, but I do know that you're the kind of woman that appreciates straight talk. I need you. I'm going crazy trying not to touch you. It kills me to keep you at arm's length when I'd rather hold you."

"I said, stop," she warns again.

"I not only need you. I love you, Sam," he declares. She is shocked, and she doesn't know what to say, but that only lasts for a few moments.

"You don't really love me, Cam. You're just lonely," she softly explains.

Just as softly, he replies, "Yes, I'm lonely, but I also love you. I think I loved you even before we got stuck here. I just knew that I didn't stand a chance, but now…" he paused, "Sam, I'm not Teal'c."

"What?" she asks, feeling as if he has sucker-punched her. That can of worms had remained firmly shut until that moment. She had done so well ignoring the elephant in the room!

"He loves you, too, but he'll never do anything about it. His sense of loyalty for Jack won't let him. I don't really have that holding me back. I don't know the general that well, and I'm a lot more selfish."

"You don't know what you're talking about," she weakly argues.

"You know it's true. You choose not to see it because it's easier for you that way, but deep down, you know he's in love with you."

"Is General Landry in love with me, too?" she sarcastically asks.

"No," he replies, looking hurt but not backing down. "He thinks of you as a daughter."

"That's a relief," she utters mordantly as she turns on her heel and walks away.

"You don't have to think of it as giving up, Sam," he says. This makes her whirl around and glare at him angrily.

"No? What would that be, Cam? Remember that, even if it takes us years to go back, it will be only hours for Jack."

"He, of all people, would understand," he argues. "He wouldn't want you to be unhappy for years out of a misplaced sense of loyalty for him."

"Misplaced?" she asks with incredulity. "Making love to you and pretending that you're Jack will never make me happy, Cam. Make no mistake; I love him and him alone, so you can stop waiting for me to cave. You can stop pausing at my door when you jog. You can stop spending your free time in my lab, keeping me company while I work. I have Teal'c for that."

"I don't spend those hours in your lab just to keep you company or because I'm waiting for you to acknowledge what I feel for you. I do it because I need to be close to you."

She closes her eyes, letting the words disarm her but refusing to give in. They remind her that he's a fragile man now, hanging on to his sanity desperately. Her compassion overcomes her anger, but she tells him the truth nonetheless.

"I'm not giving up. I'm getting us back somehow, and when I do, I'll have nothing to be ashamed of. I'll be able to look Jack in the eye."

Cam lowers his gaze to the floor in defeat and he nods. He then heads toward the door.

"Cameron," she calls, determined to leave matters clear between them.

"Yes?"

"The day I give up, there will only be one remaining woman on board this ship," she reveals. The day she gives up, she'll be giving up everything.

"No, please… don't say that, Sam," he begs, looking truly terrified.

"I want you to understand how strongly I feel about this," she replies.

He nods reluctantly. "I do now."

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

Days after her private argument with Cam, he and Teal'c face off in the gym. It is Daniel's alarmed voice the one that attracts Sam to the sparring match turned all-out fight. By the time she gets there, there's blood on the blue mat covering the floor and staffs have been discarded. The two men are wrestling furiously.

Daniel is no longer shouting at them to stop, but he's standing on the edge as if wanting to spring into the fray. Vala is holding his arm with both of hers, her expression both fascinated and horrified. General Landry is standing further away with a sad look on his face but not interfering.

"Stop this!" Sam shouts as she runs at the struggling pair, forcibly disentangling Teal'c's arms from around Cameron's neck and pushing the Jaffa off the colonel. He meekly obeys and gets to his feet, taking a few steps back.

She tries to look at Cam's split lip but he shrugs her off angrily, panting heavily as he takes a moment to regain his breath. He then stands up and faces her, but his eyes stray to the tall man standing behind her. He seems to acknowledge something and he nods, switching his gaze back to her alarmed features.

"What the hell is going on?" she demands angrily.

"We were just blowing off some steam. No need to get mad," he says almost playfully, but the edge in his voice is definitely raw. He wipes the blood off his chin with the back of his hand and sucks in his wounded lip.

"The hell you were!" she challenges, looking at him and then at Teal'c. "I don't want to know what this is all about!" she says, because she already does. "But I want you to know that the next time this happens, I will personally beat the crap out of each of you and you won't be welcome in my lab after that!"

The two men exchange another mutually understanding look over her shoulder, and then Cam nods at her. "Understood."

She turns around to glare at Teal'c, who respectfully bows his head in acceptance. Sam then turns around and leaves the gym in a huff.

She doesn't quite have the guts to face the others. She knows that this is all her fault.

o&O&o

Teal'c and Cameron start taking turns keeping her company in her lab. The gym incident is never discussed, and the two men somehow remain friends. Teal'c continues to be her shadow, but now Sam works out with Cam frequently. Soon, Vala and Daniel participate as well.

Every anniversary finds Cameron knocking on Sam's door with two glasses and a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, but they don't argue or discuss his unremitting feelings for her. They just sip their wine in amiable companionship and then go to their separate beds. He never touches the Jack subject again, but he remains always near.

Cam has clearly accepted that she will never give up on going back to her lover with a clear conscience, and he seems content just being able to spend time with her. When Teal'c is not in her lab, he is. When she doesn't jog or work out with Cam, she does with Teal'c, or Daniel, or Vala. She's hardly ever alone, and it makes her wonder whether her friends fear that they will find her dead in her cabin someday.

Permeating it all is Jack's unspoken presence. His name is rarely mentioned, but he is always there, firmly standing between her and the two men that love her. She is never quite able to see past him and consider a life with either one.

Her initially eager determination diminishes with each month of futile research. Now she's just going through the motions, acknowledging that there is just no way of escaping the time freeze without getting _The Odyssey_ blown up. You can't change the laws of physics.

She shares this with General Landry one day during a chess game, wondering about his reaction to the grim truth and whether he will choose to share it with the rest of the crew. He just smiles at her and makes his move, taking her tower.

"What do you want to do, Sam?" he asks.

"What do you mean?" she asks in return.

"Do you want to let the Ori blow us and the Asgard legacy up?" he specifies. "Do you want to end this?"

"No," she honestly replies.

"Then keep trying. You're not done," he says.

Sam agrees. The alternative just feels premature.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

Despite the emotional crises they all occasionally suffer and the long years of waiting, each year there is a reason for celebration. Every time another passes by, they have a party during dinner time to celebrate their survival. The only time they can't make themselves do so is the year that General Landry finally succumbs to old age, right on their twenty-seventh anniversary on the ship.

Sam feels devastated, but Teal'c is there to catch her. She weeps in his arms and he prevents her from collapsing. She feels her failure like a living thing inside her, clawing at her, eating at her, ripping her apart.

That day, during dinner, she carefully inspects each of her friends' features, taking in the changes the years have brought, the wrinkles on their faces, the white in their hair, and the dullness in their previously bright eyes. Only Teal'c is little changed. He is as strong as before. There are only a few more wrinkles around his eyes and a streak of white in his hair.

She knows she now looks much older than him, but he continues to gaze at her with uncompromising devotion, and Cam's words reverberate in her head every time. _"He loves you, too, but he'll never do anything about it. His sense of loyalty for Jack won't let him."_

She tries not to feel guilt over her relief at not having to reject her friend like she did Cameron.

That night, she finds herself standing before the control console in her lab, her finger hovering over the button that will end it all for them.

"You will find a solution someday, Samantha," Teal'c's voice startles her, making her snatch her hand away and hide it in shame.

"How can you be so certain after so many years?" she softly asks, swallowing the tears in her throat and refusing to face him.

"Since I have known you, I have witnessed you do many marvelous things. When all hope is lost, your brilliance always prevails. This time it will be no different. It is just taking longer. As long as we are alive, there is hope."

"Not all of us are alive anymore," she replies in a small voice, unable to prevent the tears from spilling.

"General Landry died knowing that you would eventually succeed in rescuing your team. His last words to me were for you. 'Don't let her quit,' he said. He died, but his faith in you never did."

This makes her lose the little control she had left, and she collapses on her stool, lowering her head to her arms and letting the sobs take over.

Powerful, muscled arms gather her and engulf her. She weeps on Teal'c's chest for the second time that day, struggling to believe his words and to find inside her some shred of hope.

TBC


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

After thirty-five years on _The Odyssey, _she still dreams about Jack often. She dreams of fishing. She dreams of sunsets in his arms, standing at the little pier by his cabin. She dreams of long walks on alien planets with only him as company. She dreams of a home they can finally and openly share.

In dreams she can see him smile, she can hear his voice, and she can smell his unique scent. She can taste his kisses and feel his caresses with such vividness that it breaks her heart to open her eyes the next morning. Making love to him in her sleep manages to assuage some of her enduring agony, but occasionally the dreams turn into nightmares.

She finds herself running desperately through the ship searching for him, calling his name, begging him not to leave her alone, and she wakes up with a strangled cry, with his name stuck in her throat and her body shaking, her face wet with tears.

She sometimes talks to him while awake. She lies on her bed when she can't fall asleep and tells him about her day, about each of her teammates, and about her frustration with her inability to get them home. She tells him how much she misses him, and she imagines his voice telling her that he loves her and waits for her.

She normally ends up crying, but she needs these imagined moments with him as she needs air to breathe. The longing ache inside her chest, however, never abates. Not for a single second.

o&O&o

It is with trepidation that she accepts the idea of using the actual demise of _The Odyssey_ as their means for escape. It is a long shot, but death is near, anyway. It has been fifty years, and one of them will succumb to old age very soon, just as General Landry did. Sam knows that she cannot bear watching another friend die.

She realizes that she is only alive because Teal'c had refused to give up on her, and because she was afraid of what her death would do to Cam. Taking this unlikely way out, she knows that their memories of the past fifty years will not survive with most of them, but that Teal'c will remember every painful moment. He will remember loving her and her inability to love him back.

She finds him meditating in his quarters, preparing for what could very possibly be his last mission. If their plan fails, they all will perish along with the Asgard legacy. If they succeed, Teal'c will need all his strength to endure what will come after.

"Teal'c," she softly calls, letting herself into his sleeping quarters. His door is never locked, but this is the first time she fails to wait for him to open it.

He gazes at her with soft dark eyes full of love and compassion. "I anticipated your visit, Samantha."

She smiles, taking another step into his bedroom and closing the cabin door behind her.

"I wanted to… thank you," she clumsily begins. She's not sure how to say what she wants to express. Plain words feel somehow inadequate.

"You do not owe me thanks for anything, my friend," he says, standing up and coming to stand before her. He towers over her even more so than before. She figures she has probably lost some of her height with old age. Her wrinkled hand reaches for his chest and she places it over his heart.

"There is so much I am thankful for, that it is impossible to put into words, but I wanted you to know how much your loyalty… and your love… has meant to me," she insists.

His large hand covers hers over his chest. "It has been my honor, Samantha Carter."

She looks into his eyes. She knows that he can see her worry reflected in hers. "I wish I could take this choice away from you. Even if we succeed, you will remember the fifty years that we've been imprisoned here."

His fingers tighten over hers, and she can feel the intensity with which he utters his next few words.

"I do not ever wish to forget the fifty years I have lived by your side. This is the main reason why it must be me the one to do this."

This brings tears to her eyes despite her previous determination not to shed any, and she lets her other hand reach up to his nape to pull him down. She grazes his lips with hers in a chaste but heartfelt kiss.

"Goodbye, Teal'c," she whispers.

"Goodbye, Samantha," he softly replies as he watches her leave.

TBC


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

From the moment a strangely aged Teal'c grabbed her hand and prevented her from activating the time dilation field she thought would save the ship, Sam has felt that there is a whole lot she does not want to know.

After their Jaffa teammate had debriefed them on their way back home, they had retired to their quarters in somber silence. They had all needed solitude in order to assimilate the incredible story their friend had told them. No one had doubted him for a second, but it was a lot to take in.

She understood why they had asked him to keep the details of their personal lives during that span of time secret. Except for Vala, no one had challenged Teal'c on that. It seems the others were also afraid to know.

Sam now sits in her sleeping quarters staring at the flashing stars out her window. She feels… no, she knows that there is a very sensitive part to Teal'c's story that he is not telling, and that it has to do with her. His unusually burdened dark gaze told her so as she held his eyes across the table.

Defeating her fear and unable to resist her innate curiosity, she knocks on his door. She feels she should know whether she owes her friend an apology.

She hears him allowing entrance, and she realizes that the door is unlocked, so she pushes it open. It seems he had been expecting her.

She finds Teal'c surrounded by candles and sitting on the floor. The heat inside the cabin is rather intense. It has been a while since she has found him thus. He had seemed to need only a single candle to meditate ever since he had lost his symbiote.

"Teal'c," she softly calls, ignoring the heat and focusing on her friend, who sits immobile on the floor in a corner of the room.

He finally opens his eyes and meets hers with such profound, intense sorrow that she has to catch her breath before she speaks. The previous sadness reflected in her friend's black eyes as he related his story in the mess hall is nothing compared to the deep melancholy she sees now.

"Teal'c, I have to know," she says.

"What must you know, Colonel Carter?" he asks without moving from his spot on the floor.

"Fifty years is a long time, Teal'c," she says. "It is a long time to be alone. I have to know whether…" she pauses, dropping her gaze, unable to utter the words. The possibility of her betraying Jack feels inconceivable.

"What does your heart tell you, Colonel Carter?" he simply asks.

Sam hesitates for only a moment, not wanting to hurt her friend, but then she responds with certainty, meeting his dark gaze again. "It tells me that there is only one man I can ever love with all my heart."

Teal'c gives her one of his rare smiles and bows his head at her. "You have your answer, my friend."

Sam closes her eyes with deep relief, but then she asks the second question that has been burning in her mind. "Did I hurt you, Teal'c?"

He gets up now, coming to stand before her. His large hands encompass her shoulders and he looks into her eyes without hesitation. "You did not, Colonel Carter. On the contrary, you made the past fifty years in this vessel worth living. I cherish your friendship as I cherish my love for Rya'c, unconditionally."

Sam smiles at her friend; then she gives in and hugs him affectionately, resting her head on his chest intimately. "Thank you, Teal'c."

She doesn't realize that she had already done so.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Epilogue

They transport directly to the SGC's embarkation room, where Major General Jack O'Neill waits surrounded by Marines. General Landry has already briefed him from _The Odyssey_ on its way back to Earth, so Jack already knows the highlights of what happened.

The moment she materializes in the room, Sam walks directly toward him, not waiting for any of her teammates. She can tell that the same questions that plagued her during the trip back are swirling in his mind. She can read him that easily, but all she feels right at that moment is immense relief. She has never felt happier to see him, and she decides to show him, to soothe his fears as soon as possible.

He is standing straight and calm despite his anxious eyes, coolly in command, but his arms immediately envelop her body when she unexpectedly wraps her arms around him and hugs him closely.

"Jack!" she utters with such an intense feeling of adoration that she is hard pressed to contain tears.

Despite the breach of protocol and the staring eyes around them, he buries his nose in her neck in that tender, familiar way that never fails to disarm her, to tell her how much she means to him. He holds her almost painfully tight.

"It's all right, Sam. It's over. You're home." He then kisses her head without letting her go.

She just nods. She knows that if she tries to speak, she will break down, so she holds on to him for long moments in order to regain her full composure.

She finally pulls back and looks at his face after she hears that most people have vacated the room. He is staring at someone over her head.

"Teal'c," Jack says, making her turn around in his arms and look at their Jaffa friend, who stands only a few feet away with Cameron, Daniel and Vala. General Landry is standing a little aside, watching them as well. "You're looking… distinguished," Jack finishes his thought.

"It was an exceedingly lengthy mission, O'Neill," he replies, making Vala huff and widen her eyes as if she couldn't agree more, but Sam knows that the woman barely can wrap her head around what really happened.

"Needless to say," General Landry unexpectedly speaks up, "it's also going to be a very long debrief, but Teal'c is sworn to secrecy… by us… it seems, about a lot of the personal details."

"Makes sense," Jack nods, his right arm still firmly wrapped around Sam's shoulders. Her left one won't relinquish its grip on his waist. "Thank you for your sacrifice, Teal'c, and… for everything else."

There is an understanding without words that the two men acknowledge. By the looks on their teammates' faces, Sam realizes that no one else seems to comprehend exactly what "else" the general is thanking the Jaffa for, except for her and Teal'c.

A moment later, realization suddenly downs on Daniel. She notices by the way his eyebrows rise slightly, but he doesn't say a word. He just nods imperceptibly as if to himself.

No words are needed to understand about uncompromising loyalty and devotion. It is a tacit thing, so real between them that it is almost palpable. The four of them know, without a doubt, that there is nothing they would not do for each other. They know that they will always have each other's back. Time has no bearing on that fact, and that is all that truly needs to be remembered.

The End


End file.
